Do you hate you air return vent? Me too!
Welcome to the February Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop, hosted by My Pinterventures. The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate all the participants of this hop (and you too) to not just pin, but to make it happen! This month, I chose to create an air return vent cover.
I looked up a bunch of covers but they were sooo expensive. I was going to take it out and spray paint it but it is sealed to our walls with foam filler. there was no way of removing it to replace it or spray paint it so I decided to make a cover for it! There was lots of ups and downs with this project! I hope I can help you get through it a lot easier than I did!
Tools
- Miter saw
- Scissors
- Nail gun
- Pin Nails
- Wood Glue
- E6000
- Drill press/ drill
- 1” Drill bit
- Drill, Flat edge/square, level, measuring tape, Sander, pencil, painters tape
Materials
- 1x4x8
- Decorative sheet metal
- Round 1” magnets
- White duct tape
- Paint
- Filler
Cut list
- Cut down 1×4 into 1x2s and 1x1s
- 2- 1x2x27.75 from l-l
- 2- 1x2x22.75 from l-l
- 2- 1x1x22.75 from s-s
- 2- 1x1x27.75 from s-s
- Metal- 25.75 x 20.75
*all angles are 45°

Step 1
Clean the air intake the best you can with soap, water, and vinegar. Next I painted the surrounding wall of the air intake. Finally I paint the air intake with a roller and black paint from Ace Hardware. I do not recommend this stuff! It took each coat 4 days to dry! The paint did not go on smoothly and it is soo glossy it looks wet! I also had to put 4 coats! If you can, take it off the hinges or pull the whole thing out and spray paint it! I did not have that luxury.

Step 2
Cut the 1×2 pieces to cover the intake. Next drill holes in them for the magnets, I did 3 holes on the small pieces and 4 on the longer pieces. Glue the magnets in the holes with E600.

Step 3
Cut the 1×1 outside pieces. fit the 1x1s vertically to the outside of the 1x2s, which leaves 1/4 inch above the 1x2s, this covers the outside of the air intake. Next glue and pin nail the boards together. I let dry overnight. After it was dry I filled the cracks and corners with wood filler. Let it dry then sand and paint.

Step 4
Cut metal with scissors. Then glue the metal to the wood, over the magnets. I used duct tape to cover the sharp edges. Let it dry. Touch up any paint. Then fit/snap to air intake. Done!
I hope this helps you! Lets hide these ugly suckers! #coveruglyairreturnvents
For another approach check out Simplicity in the South!
She is amazing!!
Please pin for later and share with all your friends! Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog below! If you need more DIY ideas check out these drawer dividers and these upcoming projects until next week!
Thanks for browsing friends! Love to connect with you! Shoot me an email or DM me on instagram! I’d love to have some guest bloggers or do some post roundups/collaberations in April/May when the new baby arrives!?
To join next month’s #pinterestchallenge, click here to sign-up ⇒ March Pinterest Challenge
Now let’s see what other things Pinterest inspired! Head over and visit the other hosts to see what they crafted, cooked, built, or tried!
Erlene – My Pinterventures • Jenny – Cookies Coffee and Crafts Debbee – Debbee’s Buzz • Bri – Halfpint Design • Julie – Sum of their Stories T’onna – Sew Crafty Crochet • Beverly – Across the Boulevard • Debra – Shoppe No. 5 Roseann – This Autoimmune Life • Cherryl – Farm Girl Reformed Leslie – Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After • Kelley – Simply Inspired Meals Lydia – Lydia’s Flexitarian Kitchen •Joanne – Our Unschooling Journey Kristie – Teadoddles • Gail – Purple Hues and Me • Ashley – Emory Farm Kristie – Love My Little Cottage • Crissy – First Day of Home Habiba – Craftify My Love • Marie – The Inspiration Vault • Emily – Domestic Deadline Lauren – Mom Home Guide • Maria – Simple Nature Decor Alexandra – Eye Love Knots • Lynne – My Family Thyme Marci – Stone Cottage Adventures • Terrie – Decorate & More with Tip Susan – SuzerSpace • Kim – Kimspired DIY • Pili – My Sweet Things Kelli – K’s Olympic Nest • Erin – The DIY Nuts • Shirley – Intelligent Domestications
Pinterest Inspired Projects
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Habiba Elkaihel
You did such a lovely job on this. We don’t have an air return here in our German home but I bet this could come in handy for other creative home decor solutions as well.
Emory Farm
Definitely! I’ve seen people use the metal for cabinet inserts and everything!
LydiaF1963
Wow! That’s a definite improvement!
Emory Farm
Thank you! It’s so much better!
Emily
This looks great! I did all my air vent and returns when we first moved into our house, had to customize them since I thought the metal slated ones were so ugly. Since there was no metal for mine to cling to, I used command strips so they are removable for cleaning.
Emory Farm
That’s a good idea too!
Lynne
Such a clever idea to address a real problem. What a great project! Pinned!
Emory Farm
Thanks girl! ♥️
roseannmhampton
Definitely worth the effort – it turned out really nice!
Emory Farm
Thanks girl!
Debbee
I don’t have as unsightly air returns. My wallpaper guy camouflaged ours with wallpaper and they bland in nicely. You DIY would be a great option for others in your situation.
Emory Farm
Thank you. That’s pretty cool I’ve never seen one with wallpaper.
thediynuts
I love your spray paint shelter!!!!!! That is always something I have to consider when wanting to do a project in the winter in Ohio! Thanks for sharing this great project!
Emory Farm
Thank you I got it for Xmas. It has been wonderful! Plus it’s huge!
Erlene
Oh what a great idea to use magnets! I think this would work on our old fireplace that we never use. I think it would be so much nice with a cover over it like this. Nice job! Pinned.
Emory Farm
Thanks friend if you use it on your fireplace I’d like to see! 🙂 I bet that would be pretty cute!!
Maria
Great ideas for the vents.Will have to show my hubby!He loved to do this.
Emory Farm
I love it! I hated the vent for a long time!
Gail
Yes, I’d love to hide all of my vents and your DIY cover looks quite lovely!
Emory Farm
Thank you. I’m finally happy with it 🙂
Intelligent Domestications
What a clever and fun idea to solve a real problem. Ours was visible in our prior home which meant having to constantly keep it clean. I never would have thought to do something like this. Very cool indeed!
Emory Farm
Thank you! They’re so hard to clean too! 🙁
Susan
Thanks for sharing all the pitfalls – when I work on a project and hit a snag I wonder what I’ve done wrong that the original post didn’t. Maybe it’s just that they didn’t give enough details.
Emory Farm
I know what you mean. Something always goes wrong for me lol
momhomeguide (@momhomeguide)
Great idea! I have a grate that could use a prettier cover, too! Will have to try this.
Emory Farm
It’s pretty easy 🙂
Crissy @ First Day of Home
I love finding creative DIY solutions to problems like this. It turned out so well!
Emory Farm
Thank you! Me too!
mysweethingsbypili
Air return vents are ugly but you did a wonderful work!!
Emory Farm
Lol thank you! And to buy a pretty cover is outrageous!
rawsonjl
I hate when a project turns out to me more of a PROJECT than I intended. It turned out beautifully in the end though. Pinned.
Emory Farm
Exactly! Thank you!